Method of making charcoal.



I L. FBLIZAT. METHOD OF MAKING CHARCOAL. APPLICATION FILED PBB.25,1910.

1,087,486. Patented Feb. 17, 1914.

UNITED snares nr nron.

LOUIS FELIZAT, or nouorrnsnu-nnoun, manor, ASSIGNOR 'ro LA soorarn HUILERIE 3 ET SAVONNERIE DE LURIAN, or BoUoHns-nU-RHoNE, FRANCE.

METHOD OF MAKING CHARCOAL.

Patented Feb. 17, 1914:.

Application filed February 25, 1910. Serial No. 545,897. I

' To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, LOUIS Fem, a citizen of the Republic of France, residing at Bouches-dinR-hone, France, have invented a Method of Making Charcoal, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a method of making charcoal.

More particularly the process relates to the production of charcoal from ground ligneous materials such as almond shells,

peach or apricot kernels, olive husks, sawdust and the like and the liiventlon has for 1ts principal Ob ect to not only produce a charcoal of superior quality but to utilize.

the heat of combustion of the vaporous and gaseous products resultlng 1n the carbonizing operation particularly for the producparatively large quantity of volatile substances, it is not practical to realize the full calorific power of such waste burnt in this manner.

My method generally stated consists in introducing, preferably by showering, the comminuted waste ligneous materials into a furnace heated to redness while introducing at the same time air to effect the complete combustion of the volatile products which are dissociated from the waste and which ignite on coming in contact with the red hot walls of the chamber. The residue re-- mains on the bottom of the chamber in the form of incandescent charcoal. The hot gases are conducted under boilers to raise steam and thereby utilize the calorific power of the volatile products.

While my method may be carried out in a variety of apparatus, the form of apparatus which I may and preferably do use is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which v Figure 1 is a view partly diagrammatic and partly in section showing in combination the elements of my apparatus and, Fig.

2 is a view partlydiagrammatic and partly 1n central vertical section through one of the furnaces.

As shown in the drawings the furnace 2 is divided into two heating chambers 1 and 1 separated by a fire brick partition. The chambers 1, 1 open through outlets 3, 3, controlled by doors 3, 3, into a fine 4: which conducts the hot products of combustion under the boiler, not shown. Each of these furnace chambers has a fire brick hearth 5 sloping toward the discharging door 6 or 6.

The charging is done automatically in the following manner: A hopper 7 into which the products to be burned are dumped directs it onto an endless distributing screw arranged before the battery of furnaces. At

the height of each furnace, an endless screw 9'disposed at right angles to endless screw 8 conducts the product to be charred into the ventilator conduit which is provided with a fan 10 turning at eight to twelve hundred revolutions per minute according to the nature of the product. From this conduit the product is-projected in a shower onto every part of the bottom of the furnace. The combustible as soon as it enters the furnace liberates all its volatile portion which inflame in contact with the red hot walls of the furnace and the residue falls to the bottom in the form of incandescent charcoal. The hopper 7 is provided with a register 11 just above the screw 9 for the purpose of regulating the admission of the product.

At the start the furnace is gradually heated up to a red heat, the residues in question are then cast in the form of a shower over the whole surface of the hearth by means of a small wheel with vanes or blades fed by a helical or screw conveyer or distributer. The volatile products become dissociated and ignite on coming into contact with the red hot furnace walls and the residue remains on the hearth in the form of incandescent charcoal. About every three hours the charcoal lying on the hearth is removed through the doors 6 and 6 and thrown into a small truck 7 where it is smothered or quenched. To insure the proper working of the boiler the furnaces I and I are emptied alternately so that one shall always be in action.

By means of this process it is possibleto utilize residues of the kind in question in be almost impossible to burn them on fire grates.

The residue of wood charcoal obtained by the process hereinbefore described has a commercial value superior to that of the combustible burnt. Thus, taking as an example a steam boiler burning with ordinary grates 1000 kilos of ground-nut shells, for instance,

worth about 60 cents, only about 800 kilos of the shells would require to be burnt with the process forming the subject-matter of this application for the same quantity of water evaporated in the boiler, but besides this there would be obtained as residues 220 kilos of charcoal worth 8 to 1 0 francs. As the residues hereinbefore referred to yield from 22 to 28% of their weight of wood charcoal, this means of production becomes of great interest at a time when wood charcoal is becoming rarer and rarer notwithstanding its low cost price. While the charcoal thusproduced might be used just as it is obtained, it is preferable to make it into fuel blocks by the addition of an manner I prefer is to reduce the charcoalv to powder by grinding between horizontal mill'stones and mix this powder with Water twenty-four per cent, silicate of soda fifteen per cent. and hydraulic lime three per cent. The mass is shaped into blocks by molding or otherwise and after drying in the air two to three days is ready for burning. As this method of agglomerating is no part of the invention herein claimed and has been described and claimed in my copending application Serial No. 595,626, filed Dec. 5, 1910, no further description is deemed necessary. I

What I claim is A method of making charcoal from comminuted waste ligneous material consisting in heating a furnace chamber to redness,

Signed at Paris, France, this fifteenth day of February 1910.

LQUIS FELIZAT.

) Witnesses: v

DOMINIQUE CASALONZA, LUOIEN SANTINI. 

